Archa Theatre – February 7 & 8 / 8:00 p.m.

What does it mean to be in exile? How does exile change a person? What is exile? When does it end? What is the difference between a refugee, an expat, a deportee and an emigrant? Don’t all of us live within some borders?

These and other questions are raised in the solo dance performance Bastard, the first part of a trilogy of projects by Slovak-born New York choreographer Pavel Zuštiak, which explores themes of uprootedness, transformation and otherness, and is inspired by Jerzy Kosiński’s controversial novel The Painted Bird.

“Vinasky is piercing … Frederickson’s score bracing… ‘Bastard’ is searing.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A violent tale, tenderly told: ‘Bastard’ earns its emotional extremity – with tenderness and quiet.”
FINANCIAL TIMES

“A vivid, often anguished imagination shines through in [Zustiak's] work.”
THE NEW YORKER

Concept and choreography: Pavel Zuštiak
Dancer and co-author: Jaro Viňarský
Music composed and performed by: Christian Frederickson
Produced by: Palissimo Inc. (USA)
Co-produced by: Stanica Žilina-Záriečie (SK), Institut Jerzyho Grotowského (PL), La Mama Etc. (USA)

Tickets: CZK 290 / students and seniors CZK 190

http://www.archatheatre.cz/en/

During the 1 hour “Puppets as Performers” workshop, the members of this highly acclaimed British theatre company will share their approach to working with puppets with the participants who will then have the opportunity to try it for themselves.

‘The Wordcatcher’ is a bizarre tale of something and nothing, of sound and of silence both in the heart and in the mind. The Wordcatcher sees its characters try to fix things in place that don’t fit together and through the expert use of miscommunication, the audience will witness how the holes and gaps in this story fill a void rather than leave one.

More information about timing and tickets is here or you can email PFTC for tickets.

The well-known open-mic talent night and charity event SHOOT YOUR MOUTH is now being produced by experimental theatre company AKANDA in cooperation with the IRON CURTAIN Propaganda pub. Shoot Your Mouth was originally founded in 2009 by Nina Bressler who, until recently, organized the event on a monthly basis at the Iron Curtain. When Bressler realized that due to other professional obligations she no longer had time to devote to the event, she approached Mélanie Rada and Jeff Fritz, Akanda’s co-producers, and asked them to take over Shoot Your Mouth. They agreed it was an excellent idea, and the first all-new Shoot Your Mouth will happen next month on the stage of Iron Curtain with a portion of the proceeds going to support the charity My.Water.Org.

In the last months of 2012, Shoot Your Mouth will appear twice:

Sunday 6 November and Sunday 4 December,
adm.50 kc

Both shows will begin precisely at 19:30 at Iron Curtain – Propaganda pub
Michalská 12, Praha 1

For more information please visit our website

http://www.shootyourmouth.com

Full details about the production are available at http://christmascarol.pragueplayhouse.com!

This year is a particularly exciting project as it brings top Houston talent together with Czech artists, including Czech superstar Pavel Kříž.

Guy Roberts, Artistic Director of the Prague Shakespeare Festival says, “I am delighted to be working with such tremendously talented artists on this inspiring project. United by the universality of Shakespeare’s plays our company of European and American theatre artists, led by Czech favorite Pavel Kříž, will be giving audiences in Prague something very special indeed-two of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays performed in English by an outstanding collection of professional theatre artists in the beautiful setting of the Vyšehrad summer stage.”

AS YOU LIKE IT and KING LEAR by William Shakespeare
DIRECTOR: Guy Roberts, Artistic Director Prague Shakespeare Festival

DATES:
Thursday, May 19 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – As You Like It
Friday, May 20 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – As You Like It
Saturday, May 21 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – King Lear (with Pavel Kriz)
Sunday, May 22 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – King Lear (with Pavel Kriz)
Tuesday, May 24 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – King Lear (with Pavel Kriz)
Wednesday, May 25 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – As You Like It (with Pavel Kriz)
Thursday, May 26 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – King Lear (with Pavel Kriz)
Friday, May 27 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – As You Like It
Saturday, May 28 @ 19:00 (7:00pm) – King Lear
Sunday, May 29 @ 14:00 (2:00pm) – As You Like It

TICKETS:
200kc General Admission, 150kc Student/Senior
Available online: pokladna@praha-vysehrad.cz or by phone: 222.513.842
Available also at the Vyšehrad box office in person

LOCATION:
Letní Scéna – Summer Stage, Open-Air Theatre Vyšehrad Prague, Czech Republic

MORE INFO:
Guy Roberts, Artistic Director Prague Shakespeare Festival
www.pragueshakespeare.cz guy@pragueshakespeare.cz

If you haven’t already booked your tickets to “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown”, you shouldn’t wait! Tickets are 250 Kc for general admission, 200 Kc for students and seniors and 150 Kc for children 10 and under.

We are so excited to bring this production to Prague for the first time! The musical is full of fun and energy and more fun! It is sure to sell out, so please don’t wait to book your tickets!

Visit the Charlie Brown website for full information!

May 10 & 11, 20:00 / Archa Theatre

Czech premiere (in English)

Fans of contemporary world drama have a reason for optimism. In May the Archa Theatre will present An Anthology of Optimism by Belgium’s CAMPO Theatre, a celebration of critical optimism directed by Jacob Wren and Pieter de Buysser that explores the dream of a better tomorrow.

Pieter De Buysser and Jacob Wren wrote a letter that began, “An Anthology of Optimism is a pre-emptive celebration of a critical optimism we tentatively hope will increase in the twenty-first century.” They sent the letter to writers, artists, thinkers, scientists, politicians and businesspeople all over the world, asking for a response, a contribution. This could be anything: a photograph, a piece of music, an object, a short text, a drawing or painting, a film or video, or something else entirely.

The setting for the lecture-performance is simple: Jacob and Pieter alone on stage, using the contributions they received as a framework for their own realizations and reflections, delightfully enacting a process of research into how critical optimism might function in our world. They take the spectator on a journey through the fragments of today’s dreams for tomorrow, gathered from different corners of the world.

Jacob Wren is a writer and maker of eccentric performances. His books include: Unrehearsed Beauty, Families are Formed through Copulation and Revenge Fantasies of the Politically Dispossessed. As co-artistic director of Montreal-based interdisciplinary group PME-ART he has co-created: En français comme en anglais, it’s easy to criticize, Unrehearsed Beauty / Le génie des autres, La famille se crée en copulant and the ongoing HOSPITALITÉ / HOSPITALITY series. He frequently writes about contemporary art. He first met Belgian writer, philosopher and theatre-maker Pieter De Buysser in 2000 in CAMPO nieuwpoort, Ghent (B). They felt a great affinity with each other and started an intensive correspondence resulting in An Anthology of Optimism.

The performance is in English with Czech subtitles.

Tickets CZK 290 (students CZK 190) on sale at the Archa Theatre box office and Ticketpro outlets.

“Don’t you know me? I’m the new Berlin Wall, baby. Try and tear me down!”

Ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, theatre AKANDA proudly presents HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. This groundbreaking Off-Broadway cult musical tells the story of punk rock song stylist Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock ‘n’ roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a sex-change operation gone wrong. This outrageous story is presented in the form of a rock concert and stand-up comedy routine of the blackest style. The action is moved along by Hedwig and her husband Yitzhak, a former Yugoslavian drag queen, and backed up by hard-rocking band The Angry Inch. Hedwig’s tale begins in East Berlin just before the downfall of Communism and then moves through the bleak landscapes of Midwestern America as she searches for wholeness and self-completion. Her saga finally culminates right here right now in a glam-spattered cellar in the center of Prague… easily one of the most perverse and unexpectedly beautiful stories ever told.

Under the guidance of Czech-Canadian director Mélanie Rada, an international cast of actors and musicians bring to life AKANDA’s interpretation of John Cameron Mitchell’s award-winning rock musical. Long-time Prague resident Jeff Fritz plays the title role of Hedwig opposite Uliana Elina, former frontwoman of Russian band SLOT and winner of the 2005 RAMP award for best female vocal, in the role of Yitzhak. Appearing as the Angry Inch are members of local Prague bands Broken Glass Extet and Tristram Trio lead by Ian Mikyska on guitar and Anar Yusufov on keys, with Tomáš Mika on bass and Pharoah Smeaton-Russell on drums. Production design and video projections created by Estonian artist Johanna-Mai Vihalem for the stage of Iron Curtain, a club, bar and restaurant containing numerous artifacts of the Cold War era and the memory of the dissidents who tore it all down.

For ticket reservations and info please visit our website www.akanda.cz

Blood, Love and Rhetoric are delighted to present an original adaptation of the famous 1920s horror author H.P Lovecraft for the stage in which they will bring you three of his short stories interwoven by an original play.

Agent Jablonski (Jim High) arrives at Arkham Asylum to interview three of their patients (Maithili Tideman, Jeff Fritz, Mel Rada) regarding an incident that happened in the mysterious town of Innsmouth. A story of accursed electrical machines, the possessed crew of a submarine and the awful legend surrounding Devils Reef, “Lovecraft” guarantees you a terrifying November holiday complete with the unspeakable and unutterable horror of the Cthulhu Mythos.  Written, adpated and directed by Logan Hillier.

Tickets 250kc/200kc
Available from the Globe Bookstore, and Shakespeare and Sons. 
Reservations by writing to info@bloodloverhetoric.com
Reserved tickets should be picked up 30 mins before the show

Why Divadlo Na zabradli chose to do a translation of a Polish play into English for their first English-language production is something of a mystery to me, but it’s certainly an interesting choice. If it is successful (especially with tourists), I think we can start to see more theaters trying this out, which could be a boon to the English-speaking acting community here. I’m also curious to see how the Czech cast (the majority of the actors are non-native speakers) manages the English. Recent films shot in English (Bathory and Libuse) with Czech or Slovak casts have solidified my impression that acting well in another language is extremely difficult.

I have worked with David as a director and am very confident of his abilities and artistic sensibility, so if anyone can pull this off, he can.

The premier on June 3 is sold out, but there are still some spots left for the reprise on June 15. For tickets, you can call the Zabradli box office: 222 868 868